NICK JOE RAHALL II (born May 20, 1949) is an American former
politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S.
Representative from
West VirginiaWest Virginia from 1977 to 2015. He is the
longest-serving member ever of the United States House of
Representatives from the state of
West VirginiaWest Virginia .

From 1977 to 1993, he served the now-defunct 4th congressional
district . From 1993 to 2015, he served the 3rd congressional district
. His district included the southern, coal-dominated portion of the
state, including Huntington , Bluefield , and Beckley . Rahall was
the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure .

Rahall lost a bid for re-election to Congress in 2014, losing to West
Virginia State Senator Evan Jenkins .

He went to work as staff assistant for the late U.S. Senator Robert
Byrd who he identifies as a mentor.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ELECTIONS

1970s–90s Rahall during his first term in Congress

Rahall was elected to Congress in 1976 in the 4th district,
succeeding
Ken HechlerKen Hechler who ran for governor . Rahall won the district
primary with a plurality of 38%. Hechler lost the primary for
governor, and attempted a write-in campaign for the congressional
seat. Rahall won the general election with 46% of the vote, while
Hechler got 37%.

In 1978, Hechler challenged Rahall in the Democratic primary, and
Rahall won with 56% of the vote. He was re-elected 17 times. Hechler
later became the
West VirginiaWest Virginia Secretary of State , and ran against
Rahall in the primary in 1990. Rahall defeated him, receiving 57% of
the vote.

In 1990, he defeated Republican insurance agent Marianne Brewster
with just 52% of the vote, the second-lowest winning percentage of his
career. The district was redrawn after the 1990 census , becoming
the 3rd district, due to changes to the state's population. 2010
See also:
United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives elections in West
Virginia, 2010 § District 3

In the 2012 election, Rahall defeated Republican
Rick Snuffer with
53.5% of the vote. His eight-point margin of victory was his
narrowest since 1990. 2014 See also: United States House of
Representatives elections in West Virginia, 2014 § District 3

In 2014, Rahall faced a primary challenge from fellow Democrat and
retired Army officer Richard Ojeda. Rahall won the primary with 66.4%
of the vote.

He faced Republican State Senator Evan Jenkins in the November
general election. Jenkins had served in the state legislature for 20
years as a Democrat, but had switched parties. Jenkins and Rahall had
contributed to each other's campaigns in the decade's previous
election cycles.

Rahall was considered one of the most "endangered" House Democrats by
the House Democratic campaign committee. He received an endorsement
from the NRA. Rahall was the sole remaining Democrat in West
Virginia's three-member delegation to the House of Representatives.

As of September 18, 2014, the race was rated a "toss up" by both
University of Virginia political professor
Larry SabatoLarry Sabato , of Sabato\'s
Crystal Ball , and
Stu Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report.
As of October 2, managing editor Kyle Kondik of Sabato's Crystal Ball
said the race was still a toss-up, calling it "Super close, super
expensive and super nasty." The Rahall campaign outspent the Jenkins
campaign in the election by a two-to-one ratio.

Ultimately, Rahall was defeated, with 44.7% of the vote to Jenkins'
55.3% of the vote. In the process, he lost a number of areas that had
reliably supported him for years.

Having served 19 terms in the House, the 65-year-old Rahall qualified
for a
Congressional pension of about $139,000 a year.

Rahall has expressed concern about America's relationship with
Israel. He said, "
IsraelIsrael can’t continue to occupy, humiliate and
destroy the dreams and spirits of the Palestinian people and continue
to call itself a democratic state."

Rahall, along with other Lebanese-American lawmakers, expressed
concern with a bipartisan resolution supporting
IsraelIsrael in the 2006
Israel-
LebanonLebanon conflict without adding language urging restraint
against civilian targets. He helped draft a resolution that urged "all
parties to protect innocent life and civilian infrastructure." Rahall
was one of only 8 House members to vote against a resolution
supporting Israel's right to defend itself, which was supported by 410
House members.

Rahall was the only member of the House to oppose the 1993 resolution
urging Arab states to end their Arab boycott of
IsraelIsrael . He also
pressed the
State DepartmentState Department to end a ban on travel to Lebanon; the
ban was lifted in 1997.

Rahall introduced legislation to improve mine safety. Rahall opposed
legislation designed to end mountaintop removal mining , a process
often used in West Virginia.

Rahall's policies involving mountaintop removal mining have been
criticized as reflected by author and journalist
Jeff Biggers in "The
Blog" in
The Huffington PostThe Huffington Post , with the link between mountaintop
removal mining and flooding, as well as the billions of pounds of
explosives used since 2004, being given as examples.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Rahall believes that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are causing global
warming , saying to the Register-Herald that denial of climate change
is "to just put your head in the sand."

Rahall called the
Environmental Protection AgencyEnvironmental Protection Agency “callous”,
attacked greenhouse gas rule as “disastrous”, and filed
legislation to block the president’s climate agenda, but in the
summer of 2013 he attended a ceremony to rename the EPA headquarters
and has praised EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. Rahall, alongside
three other Democrats, supported a GOP bill that would limit EPA
authority on CO2 emissions, the
Energy Tax Prevention Act . He
commented on this, saying: “I am dead set against the E.P.A.’s
plowing ahead on its own with new regulations to limit greenhouse
gases.” He also voted against the American Clean Energy and
Security Act .

In 2007, Rahall introduced the Energy Independence and Security Act
of 2007 , which banned incandescent light bulbs . Despite introducing
the legislation, Rahall voted against the bill on final passage. As a
result of the legislation, as of January 1, 2014, incandescent light
bulbs between 40 watts and 150 watts are illegal to manufacture or
import.

In 2013, Rahall voted for the Progressive Caucus\'s budget, which
included provisions for a carbon tax. The budget failed to pass.

FOREIGN POLICY

Rahall and another Congressman of Arab descent traveled to Syria and
ignored
State DepartmentState Department policy by meeting with Palestinian leader
Yasser ArafatYasser Arafat , whom Rahall had known for years. Queen Noor of Jordan
presented Rahall with the first Najeeb Halaby Award for public
service.

Rahall opposed the
2003 invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of Iraq . Rahall had traveled to
Baghdad just before the Iraq War with the intention of convincing
Iraqi leaders to allow the U.N. to inspect Iraq's weapons and have
access to every site. He said that
Tariq AzizTariq Aziz had accepted all of
Bush's demands, and that "Bush said the war was not inevitable, but we
now know that wasn’t true. Iraqis did allow for complete access but
Bush’s mind was already made up. Iraqis were damned if they did and
damned if they didn’t .... We were falsely led into this war.”

In 2004, it was reported that Rahall feared that Syria would be
attacked by Bush before the November elections. He said that
“They’re using the same rhetoric against the Syrians they used
against Iraqis.... We now have the Syrian Accountability Act. All this
despite the State Department’s admission that Syria helped us
capture key al-Qaeda operatives and helped save American lives.” As
for Saudi Arabia, Rahall said that the U.S. “wouldn’t dare”
attack that country: “The Kingdom has been a key ally for
decades.”

ENDORSEMENT OF BARACK OBAMA

In 2008, Rahall endorsed
Barack ObamaBarack Obama , saying Obama understands the
needs and aspirations of West Virginians. He was also Chair of the
Arab Americans for Obama group. Explaining his position, Rahall cited
Senator Byrd, who said "I work for no President. I work with
Presidents." In an interview with
Keith OlbermannKeith Olbermann , Rahall said that
Obama had the courage and conviction to win the presidency, and that
the then-senator was a true agent for change.

ETHICAL ISSUES

In 2004, the
Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times ran an article about Rahall and his
sister, lobbyist Tanya Rahall. They reported that she made $15,000 per
month as a lobbyist for
QatarQatar , and that "the person she frequently
lobbies is ... her older brother and one of Qatar's biggest champions
in Washington.” Rahall said “our paths cross professionally, but
not across any lines appropriately established by law or House
rules.” In May 2003, a year after his sister took on
QatarQatar as a
client, Rahall sponsored a resolution praising Qatar's "years of
democratic reform"; according to one academic study from 2011, "For
over three years, the country virtually had its own congressman in
Washington,
Nick RahallNick Rahall (D-WV)".

In February 2005, Rahall used Congressional stationery to write a
letter to a Fairfax County judge, David Stitt, asking for leniency for
his son,
Nick RahallNick Rahall III, who was facing felony robbery charges.
According to the House ethics manual: “Official stationery ... may
be used only for official purposes." Rahall acknowledged that he
should not have used Congressional stationery for his letter, but said
it was not the same type that he uses for official or committee
business. Rahall added he may have drawn the wrong paper "n the
emotions", and that he would reimburse the Treasury Department for the
cost of the paper. The
United States House Committee on Ethics did
not launch an inquiry into the incident.

Rahall and his second wife, Melinda Ross of Ashland, Kentucky,
married in 2004. They have three children from his previous marriage,
and three grandchildren.

In 2008, Rahall appeared on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
which featured Hillbilly Hot Dogs of Lesage,
West VirginiaWest Virginia . Rahall
introduced the hot dog that's named after him on the menu, Rahall's
Red Hot Weenie.

In July 2009, Rahall jumped out of a plane to show his support for
the coal industry. The event was intended to show the importance of
the coal industry to both
West VirginiaWest Virginia and the United States as a
whole. The act confused some, who questioned the reasoning behind the
jump. It was noted that Rahall is involved with coal lobbyists and
also receives contributions from the airline industry.